Heroes of Hope
by jkawsome
Summary: A single day can change lives. Midoriya Izuku meets a quirkless General Studies student, and ends up not only being a lot more prepared for his time at Yuuei, but also embroiled in a conspiracy that goes straight to the heart of the hero society.


Midoriya Izuku stood in front of the door, which led to what would be his classroom for his third year of Junior High. He should enter, he knew he should, but his legs were locked in place and his hands wouldn't stop shaking.

It probably wasn't normal for most kids to be this scared of entering their classroom on the first day of school, but Izuku was by no means normal. Ironically, his unusualness stemmed precisely from his normalcy, for Izuku was one of only twenty percent of the world that was born quirkless, without a special power to call his own. Naturally, this painted a massive target on his back when it came to bullies, like his old friend Kacchan…who was rapidly approaching.

Izuku's breath caught in his throat and he shivered, searching for a way to escape the situation he just knew he was about to enter. But it was to no avail, as his legs stayed frozen as Kacchan stormed up to him.

"Deku! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Izuku winced and flinched away as miniature explosions popped next to his face. "You're blocking the way, dammit!"

Izuku's heart sank. It was bad enough that he couldn't get away from Bakugo Katsuki when they were kids, but having to be in the same class as his former friend all three years in a row was worse than rotten luck. "I-I-I'm sorry Kacchan," he managed to get out. "I-I'll move now." Finally his traitorous legs obeyed him, and he scrambled out of the way of the other kid.

Kacchan shot him a glare. "You'd better stay out of my way this year, you fucking nerd. Don't fucking talk to be." He shoved Izuku aside as he passed. Kacchan's words were so cliché they might've been funny, if this wasn't really life, and Izuku didn't have to suffer through them.

He stepped inside the classroom, searching for any more familiar faces. Izuku didn't have any friends at their Junior High, never did. People either joined Katsuki in mocking him, didn't want to get anywhere near the quirkless kid, or just didn't want to get on Kacchan's bad side. That last one Izuku understood all too well, but there were still some kids in the school who would smile as they walked by him from time to time.

Unfortunately, none of them were in his new class. Izuku had a long year of being picked on and ignored ahead of him. He looked around for a seat. The class was already nearly full; it seemed he was the last to enter. And because of that, the only seat left open in the class was the one behind Kacchan.

Izuku gulped, then steadied his breathing and squared his shoulders, walking straight to the open desk without looking left or right. Any jeers from classmates new and old, he ignored. He sat down and put his bag to the side, pulling out his hero's notebook.

It was going to be a long year, that was for sure. But at least he had good ways to pass the time, ways like planning for the future where he would be a hero just like his idol, All Might. A hero, Izuku knew, who would do everything in his power to help others, even if others were pressuring them not to. When Izuku became a hero, he would to all in his power to help the helpless, no one one else would feel like he did.

* * *

Izuku was a massive nerd when it came to heroes, he would freely admit it. How could he not be, when they were so amazing! He kept track of all the upcoming heroes, the top of the top, and even some of those that hadn't quite made the spotlight. He wrote down all of their quirks, and what would be the strengths and weaknesses of each. He could recall hero names and special moves quicker than equations and lines of text, which was pretty impressive, he might add. (He was top of the class in schoolwork for a reason, after all.)

Naturally, because of all this, he also knew as much as there was to be found about the top hero schools in Japan. After all, he was nearing the end of Junior High, and he wanted more than anything to go to one of those high schools. In fact, he was already planning on applying for Yuuei, the top school, quirklessness be damned.

All of this meant that when he was walking home after school, mood thoroughly crushed from his first day back, he was able to spot the high schooler wearing the Yuuei uniform immediately. Izuku perked up and bounded over, trying to catch the other kid before he walked away.

"Hey! Excuse me?" He called out, stopping right behind the Yuuei student. The spiky haired boy jolted with surprise and turned around, motioning at himself with wide eyes, as though surprised to be addressed.

"Are you talking to me?" He asked. Izuku nodded quickly.

"I saw your uniform," he explained. "That's a Yuuei uniform, do you go there? I mean obviously, if you're wearing the uniform, I just meant - I mean -"

The boy let out a small laugh. For some reason, it sounded a bit bitter. "Yeah, I go to Yuuei. Just started there today." He frowned and looked away. "I'm only in General Studies though, so if you're curious about the school you could probably find someone better than me to talk to."

"I don't mind talking to you," Izuku assured the other kid. "It's just that I was looking to go there as well - I want to be a hero and that's the best place to go - so I was wondering if there was anything you could tell me that would be helpful." Izuku realized that might sound really demanding. "I - I mean, you don't have to!"

The boy smiled. It looked a lot more genuine than his laugh had sounded. "It's cool, I don't mind. I was in your place last year, I know how exciting and nerve wracking it is to be thinking about going to Yuuei." He looked around. "Might want to sit down somewhere though. There's a café nearby. Drink's on me."

"Thanks a lot!" Izuku fell into step with the other kid. "My name's Midoriya by the way, Midoriya Izuku."

The boy looked pleased. "Hinata Hajime. Nice to meet you, Midoriya."

* * *

Izuku nursed his drink, watching Hinata down his coffee. The Yuuei student was taller than him, and buffer too. His brown hair seemed to stick out in all directions, with one strand that shot straight up and then bent at an angle. His eyes were olive green, and far more guarded than most kids were at their age. Izuku wondered what his story was.

Hinata set down his drink and looked Izuku up and down. "Right then. What was it you wanted to ask me?"

Izuku fidgeted. "Just some stuff, you know. Is it hard to get in? Are the teachers nice? Do they let you use your quirks all of the time? How is everything organized? What are the major differences between General Studies and the Heroics course? What-"

"Um, one thing at a time, please." Hinata looked slightly overwhelmed. Izuku flushed and looked away. "Right. Um. To answer your first question, there's a test that's a bit difficult, but can be passed with enough prep After that, they take the highest scores, and if there are too many who did well enough, it's all luck on which of those people get in. Nanami says the Heroics course also has a practical exam, so you might want to prepare for that if you're really aiming to be a hero."

"Nanami?" Izuku asked. A happy look crossed Hinata's face.

"She's my best friend," he informed Izuku. "We've known each other since middle school. She's a technopath, and she got one of the highest scores on the practical out of her entire class. I can introduce you sometime. I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you about the Hero course."

"That sounds amazing!" Izuku tried to resist the urge to pull out his notebook and write this down. "A technology based quirk is extremely useful in this day and age, especially in massive cities, where there's tech everywhere. I can see how she did so well, she'll be a great hero for sure."

"Yeah," Hinata agreed. He looked a lot happier when talking about his friend. Izuku hadn't noticed just how tired the other boy had looked until that moment. "Yeah, she's got an amazing quirk, and she's also an amazing person. She'll be a great hero."

"If she could have some equipment always on hand that responds to her quirk, she could be more effective even when there isn't a ton of tech around," Izuku mused. "Oh, speaking of! What's your quirk? And do they allow you to test if out in school? They must, if people graduate knowing how to use their abilities so well.

Hinata winced, then chugged the rest of his coffee. "Promise you won't make fun," he muttered, looking away.

Izuku blinked, caught off guard. "Um, of course not! Why would I?"

"Most do," Hinata replied dryly, good mood seemingly over. "I'm quirkless. I knew the written test by heart, but there was no way I could pass the practical. I just don't have the talent for that sort of thing. Wasn't born with a useful quirk, wasn't born with one at all."

That was honestly the last thing Izuku had expected. He knew twenty percent of the population was quirkless just like him, but he'd personally never met another quirkless person. And seeing Hinata looking so downcast...it hit him in all of his empathetic spots.

"I am too," Izuku admitted quietly. "Quirkless, I mean." Hinata's head shot up. Izuku clenched his fists. "But I can't let that stop me. I want to be a hero, to help others just like All Might does! I can't let something like this hold me back." Determination surged through him. "I'm going to pass that practical, no matter what!"

Hinata looked taken aback. Something flashed in his face, that looked both hopeful and bitter at the same time. Too late, Izuku realized talking about how he would pass the practical without a quirk might sound to someone who couldn't.

But Hinata just grinned. A somewhat bitter and self-deprecating grin, but a grin all the same. "Alright then. I'll introduce you to Chiaki. Maybe her and her classmates can help you figure out how to pass this thing."

"Can you help too?" Izuku blurted out before he could stop himself. "It's just, I've never met another quirkless person before, and everyone thinks I can't get into Yuuei at all, but you're already in general studies, so that means it really is possible."

"Eh? You want me to-" Hinata paused and considered. "You know what?" Yeah sure, I'll help. Us quirkless kids have to stick together, right? Prove everyone wrong, show what it really means to be a hero."

Izuku smiled. "Right! Let's do it!"

* * *

Someone rapped smartly on Nedzu's door. He put away the papers he was looking over, ready to great the expected visitor. "Come in!"

To door opened, and a man with dark, somewhat pointy hair, and a smart black suit came walking in. Nedzu gestured to the chair in front of his desk, and the man quickly sat. "Principal Nedzu," the man greeted. "It's been a while."

"Yes it has," Nedzu agreed. "It's good to see you, Jin. Would you like a cup of tea?"

"That would be nice," Kirigiri answered stiffly. As long as Nedzu had known him, Kirigiri had always been one to go straight to business, and hated small talk with a burning passion, preferring to be back at work rather than talk with others. As such, Nedzu made sure to offer tea each time he came and get straight to the point, to set the man at ease a bit. When Kirigiri glared at the offered tea as though it had personally offended him, Nedzu knew it was bad.

"What happened?" He asked the country's best detective.

Kirigiri huffed. "You want the bad news? Or the even worse news? Although at this point I'm not sure which is which. And really it's just one piece of terrible news."

"The same group did multiple things?" Nedzu inferred. Kirigiri nodded. "Then start with the bad news. We'll address that, and moving on to the worse part."

"Right." Kirigiri set the tea down, not having taken a sip. "There's a kid, Yorashi Inasa. Third year in Junior High. And a first year at Shiketsu, Utsushimi Camie. Both went missing on the same day."

"Powerful quirk users like the other missing students," Nedzu guessed. It was putting everyone on edge, the continuing disappearance of hero students, and even a few pro heroes. All people with lots of raw talent, but mostly untrained. So far, Yuuei seemed to be the only school with no missing students. Everyone in the hero community was on edge, despite the Hero Commission downplaying everything and insisting things were fine. "The Junior High student is a new one though. No one that young has been taken before."

Kirigiri shrugged. "Signs point to it being the same group. There's little evidence, save for the fact that we know a quirk was used where Yorashi had been seen last. Not to mention that he apparently had an extremely powerful quirk. Could manipulate wind. And Utsushimi could create powerful glamors."

"We could be dealing with a group that has access to a teleportation quirk," Nedzu mused. "Extremely rare, but something to look into all the same. We'll increase security here, and make sure no warping quirks can be used on school grounds. None of our students have warping powers at the moment, so it shouldn't be a problem." He sighed. "Alright, let's hear the worse news."

Kirigiri grimaced. "Enoshima Junko and Ikusaba Mukuro have broken out of jail. Or more accurately, someone broke them out of jail."

"...Ah. I see. That is bad news." Enoshima had been a star fashion model only a few years back, and had attended a prodigious school with her sister Ikusaba. Everyone has thought they were wonderful people and model citizens, until students at their school started dropping like flies. It was revealed that Junko had a quirk that let her intimately understand and predict the actions of anyone she touched, and had used that to manipulate others into killing each other. Ikusaba, much like Snipe, had a quirk that made sure she never missed her shot. Together, the two wreaked havoc on their school, and thirty people had died before they were put away.

"I don't have much evidence yet," Kirigiri continued, "But I believe this is related to all of the recent kidnappings that have taken place. Call it a detective's hunch. I'm still looking into it."

"Good. Those two are certainly a pair we don't want running wild." Nedzu took a sip of his own tea. "On a more positive note, I have glowing remarks about your daughter from her teacher. Kyoko's top of her class, he says. One of the most promising second years we have."

"Oh? Hmm, that's good." Kirigiri seemed distracted, something Nedzu couldn't blame him for. Still, the principal would've liked the man to show a bit more interest, seeing as he had never once asked about his daughter since she had come to this school, even after she was recommended. The wasn't his problem, however, so he let it slide.

Kirigiri stood up abruptly. "I'll be off," he said. "I just came to inform you of the current situation. I have leads to pursue, you understand."

"Of course." Nedzu watched him go. While he and Kirigiri didn't always see eye to eye, he agreed with the man's assessment about to two recent crimes being related. Hunch or not, he was going to amp up security, especially around the hero course.

No future hero at Yuuei was getting kidnapped, not under his watch.

* * *

Saihara Shuichi winced as an older man with a scaly tail suddenly flicked his extra appendage into the young boy's gut. Shuichi winced and clutched his stomach with one hand, and held his hat in place with the other. There was a reason he hated train rides, especially those to the city.

He was going to have to get used to them, he knew. He was off to live with his uncle in Tokyo now. There was going to be crowds of people wherever he went, and trains were just the beginning. The thought made him shudder.

He adjusted his hat and psyched himself up. He was here to get a new start, away from the oppressive airs of a small town that hated him and his quirk, to a place where people with outrageous powers were common and nobody knew save name. Save for his uncle, obviously.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Shuichi pulled it out and looked at the message from his uncle. It seemed that a villain attack was occurring somewhere between the train station and his uncle's house. His uncle advised Shuichi to be careful, and assured him that it wasn't too big of a deal, this happened all the time in Tokyo.

Despite himself, Shuichi felt a thrill of excitement. Growing up in a small town, he'd never seen a hero fight before, so this might be his first time.

The train slowed to a stop, and Shuichi followed the mass of people to another part of Tatooin Station. Up on the railroad tracks, a massive man with a face somewhat like a sharks was swiping and snarling at anyone who tried to get near him. Shuichi pushed forward to get a closer look, trying to ignore the tension in his body from the people around him. Someone shoved into him and he found himself knocked to the side, out of the throng of people.

The villain screamed at what Shuichi figured were the approaching heroes. "Get away from me!" He slammed his fist into a chunk of cement, sending it flying outwards towards the crowd.

If Shuichi had been in a different place in the crowd at the moment, he might've gotten to see Death Arms catch the biggest pieces of debris, Kamui Woods show up to battle the purse snatcher, and Mount Lady make her debut and steal the spotlight. He would've been amazed, and then continued on his way home.

However, because of where he was standing, the first thing he spotted instead was a smaller piece of thrown cement, flying towards a frail middle aged man. Without thinking, he raced forward, grabbing the man's shirt and pulling him downwards.

Everything went dark and cold. Shuichi closed his eyes and imagined the alleyway he had passed by on his way over, where no one was walking. He kept the image of one of its walls firmly in his mind, and pushing it outward in a way he couldn't explain.

Then the cold was gone, and Shuichi crashed on top of the man in said alleyway, safe from the debris and away from the fight.

Shuichi groaned, reaching for his hat to make sure it was still there. He sighed in relief when his hand touched its brim. Then he realized he was still on top of the other man. Shuichi let out a yelp and scrambled off him.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't mean to fall on top of you." Shuichi froze. His quirk, he had just used his _quirk_. Not the part of it that made people avoid him, sure, but still. And usage of quirks in public were illegal. He scooted away from the man, trying to say something, anything, to defend himself, and coming up empty.

The man let out a small groan and pulled himself up. "No need to apologize, young man. Thank you for saving me." The man gave him a thin smile. With a frail-looking face, wild yellow hair sticking up in all directions, and dark eyes with bright blue pupils, he looked more like a skeleton than a person.

It took a second for the man's words to sink in. Shuichi stepped back with wide eyes. "You're not mad? That I used my quirk when I'm not supposed to?"

"Mad?" The man chuckled. "You saved me, didn't you? I couldn't be mad about that. And quirk usage has always been allowed for quick self defense and immediate threats to others, which this would definitely fall under."

"Oh. Okay then." Shuichi looked away awkwardly. Apparently he'd gotten all worked up for nothing, as usual.

The golden haired man seemed to consider him. "Have you thought about applying for a heroics course, young man? You have the instincts for it. And was that some sort of teleportation quirk? I think you would make a good hero."

Shuichi stared at him, mouth slightly open. "Me? But I'm not suited to that sort of stuff." He looked away. "And my quirks a bit...strange. Not really good for heroism."

"You saved me," the man reminded him gently. "Please consider it."

"Right. Okay." Shuichi still couldn't believe the words that were coming out of the man's mouth. "Um. I should get going."

"Of course." The man nodded. "Thank you again. I hope to see you again some day."

"Right, yeah." Shuichi sped out of the alleyway, head full to the brim with thoughts.

Could he really be a hero? Sure, he solved that case a while back, but no one had seen that as heroic in any way, not with how he used his quirk to solve it. No one but his uncle had ever thought he could amount to much, and here was this man, telling him he could be a hero.

Shuichi had a lot to think about, that was for sure.


End file.
